The sudden onset of the pandemic last March was an enormous challenge for retail supply chains, the ultimate unscheduled resiliency test. One needed to look no further than empty supermarket shelves and the infamous toilet paper shortage that marked the early quarantine days to see just some of the effects such an event had on retail.
Since those dark early days of the crisis, optimizing supply chains and shoring them up against future disruption has become a big priority for many firms. Kearney has teamed up with Silicon Valley supply chain automation firm Aera Technology to support retailers' efforts to bolster their supply chains.
Kearney says its approach is to build a more reactive supply chain with the ability to "sense and pivot" in response to potential disruption, enlisting Aera's Cognitive Operating System into its offering. The platform helps make supply chains more agile by leveraging transactional data into better business decisions that can be automatically implemented as the need arises.
"When it comes to supply chain management, there are many variables to consider, but the key is to balance cost, service level, and resiliency," says Suketu Gandhi, partner in the digital transformation practice at Kearney. "Our partnership with Aera Technology will mean that companies can achieve this goal by anticipating disruptions more effectively and implementing contingency plans with ease."
Aera's Cognitive Operating System is designed to help firms better see what's coming around the corner when it comes to their supply chain, and be more prepared to move quickly in the event of a major unexpected change.
"We've worked with the world's largest organizations to demonstrate the value of cognitive automation at scale," says Frederic Laluyaux, CEO of Aera Technology. "By integrating Kearney's supply chain capabilities with Aera's proven Cognitive Operating System, we are excited to extend this to an even wider range of companies with our strategic partnership with Kearney."
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